VP Travel pool #5

Vice President JD Vance spoke to Marines for about 9 minutes. He shared the "good things" that Marines did for him. Vance said some of the best friends he made in his life, people who came to his and President Donald Trump's inauguration, he met in boot camp.

He used the time to speak to Marines about what this administration sees moving forward.

"Under President [Donald] Trump's leadership, we believe in a very simple principle — we don't care who you are, where you came from, we don't care what skin color you are. We care about excellence and we care about patriotism," Vance said. "And if you are awesome and you are a patriotic young Marine, then we are going to do everything that we can to make you the most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen, and that is what we're doing every single day. No more quotas, no more ridiculous mumbo jumbo, no more diversity trainings. We believe the real strength in the real diversity in the United States Marine Corps is that you all come from every walk of life, come from every corner of America, and you have got the strength and the purpose to win the nation's wars. And that is what the Marine Corps is going to do."

Toward the end of his speech, he acknowledged he didn't make it on time. He was supposed to arrive in the noon hour. A Marine shouted, "That's Marine time!"

Vance and others laughed.

"That's not Marine Corps time, my friends," Vance said. He mentioned a phrase he heard that "if you're five minutes early, you're 10 minutes late."

"What does it mean when the Vice President is two hours late? Well, guess I'm on time, because who the hell is going to get me in trouble, right," Vance said.

The vice president ended by saying before he left, he asked Trump if he had a message for Marines.

"The President of the United States said he wanted me to tell you two things. First of all, that he loves you, and second of all, that he's proud of you."

Vance went to the mess hall to serve Marines lunch and eat with them. A couple of Marines in line were from Kentucky and made a point to say "there are a lot of y'all."

Reporters tried to get his attention for questions, but he did not respond. Media has left the mess hall and are heading to the weapon range where Vance will appear next.

Matthew Adams

Stars and Stripes, Pentagon Reporter

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